Chapter 387: Allied Defense Line, Storm Clouds Gathering

Of course, there was another crucial reason for proposing such conditions: Lin Mo had no intention of letting anyone else take first place. To attract as much available strength as possible, this genius gathering had a very loose age restriction—anyone under thirty-five could participate.

This covered not just the younger generation, but also those from the previous generation who had already matured into geniuses.

Among them, those who had reached the Transcendent Level were far too numerous to count. By the time someone reached their thirties, if they hadn't even reached Transcendent Level, they had no right to call themselves a genius.

Some of the more exceptional ones were even approaching or had already advanced to the Heroic Realm, and that wouldn't be surprising.

But so what?

Even if his opponent was a genuine Heroic Realm expert, Lin Mo felt not the slightest worry.

From the moment he had conceived this plan, he had already considered first place as his guaranteed prize.

At this moment, Velesia's mind was almost entirely focused on how to handle the immediate difficulties before her, so she didn't notice this detail. After listening to Lin Mo's plan, she didn't hesitate at all. She simply nodded directly. "Alright, let's do it your way. I'll notify my clan right now and go discuss it with the elders..."

Earlier on the journey, due to the great distance, their magical communication devices couldn't connect to the Elven Royal Court. But now that they had arrived at the imperial capital of the Roxez Empire, they could transmit simple messages.

Regarding her own part in Lin Mo's proposed plan, Velesia didn't give it much thought. When it came to matters of life and death for her race, her personal interests and feelings weren't important.

The plan was settled. Next came the task of quickly spreading the news and waiting for public opinion to brew.

During this time, Lin Mo chose not to recklessly enter the Barbarian Forest.

Once the war officially began, there would be plenty of proficiency for him to farm. There was no need to be greedy about immediate gains and losses. The situation in the Barbarian Forest was currently very unstable, with far too many uncertainties. Even though he had his Portable Space as a powerful survival tool, if his luck was exceptionally bad and he ran into the Gnome Emperor of the Gnome Kingdom, even the Portable Space might not be a guaranteed safeguard.

After all, an expert who had reached the Legendary Level was certainly capable of forcibly shattering space.

This was already the universally acknowledged peak of the continent, and also the highest point that most living beings, including humans, could ever hope to reach.

Beyond the Legendary Level lay the domain of the gods—something ordinary mortals or magical creatures could never attain.

Therefore, during this war, Lin Mo couldn't be too reckless either.

Under normal circumstances, an existence like the Gnome Emperor wouldn't specifically come after him, nor would it act rashly. Instead, it would hide in the shadows, guarding against the Legendary Level experts on the human side.

But there was always a chance of unexpected events. He was quite famous now, after all, and no one could say for sure whether some accident might occur. In any case, caution was the parent of safety. Being more careful never hurt.

Over the next two days, everything proceeded smoothly—almost too smoothly. As public opinion fermented and the news spread completely, the chain reaction it triggered far exceeded Lin Mo's expectations as the instigator.

More and more young talents and powers converged from all directions.

Beyond the opportunity to become famous and the Elven Princess Velesia herself, the Elven race also offered sufficient sincerity in terms of rewards, just in case.

Apart from the most important secret treasures of the Elven race, they held back nothing on other items.

They had brought out over a hundred pieces of Epic Level equipment alone, along with two Quasi-Legendary Level pieces and one genuine Legendary Level piece.

That's right—the first-place reward, besides becoming an honorary prince of the Elven race and marrying the Elven Princess from the Elven Royal Court, also included a Legendary Level piece of equipment as a reward!

With so many temptations stacked together, the situation at the Barbarian Forest suddenly became the focus of attention across the entire continent.

Even the Serya Empire in the northern territories had many powers rushing over one after another.

As for the Dwarf race and numerous smaller kingdoms, quite a few powers also came to join the excitement.

But honestly, those people didn't amount to much. Their main role was to serve as a catalyst. What mattered more was the incredibly large number of adventurers also gathering in that direction.

After the news spread, the Adventurers' Association reacted swiftly and cooperated perfectly by issuing a large-scale goblin extermination mission. The matter of the Gnome Kingdom had to be dealt with anyway. Originally, they had been hesitant due to the Roxez Empire's attitude, unsure of what to do. Now that the situation had shifted dramatically, they naturally had to step forward quickly—both to solve the problem and to gain reputation, further expanding the Association's influence.

As a result, over these few days, the flow of people in the imperial capital had clearly increased several times over, making the already bustling city utterly crowded.

During these two days, Lin Mo also did some investigating regarding Noren.

That girl had come over from the Violet Empire more than ten days ago to discuss cooperation matters here.

Logically, the negotiations for cooperation with the Roxez Empire should have ended long ago. So Lin Mo had no idea where to find her at the moment. He had already gone to the most likely place, the Oxivis Trading Company. Noren had been there, but she had left quickly.

He had no idea what that girl was up to.

But Lin Mo was certain she was still somewhere on the map and hadn't left. After all, with such a big commotion at the Barbarian Forest, there was no way Noren wouldn't want to join in on the fun.

Actually, it all seemed a bit strange...

Logically, even if she stayed behind to participate in the upcoming genius gathering, Noren would most likely choose to stay at the Oxivis Trading Company temporarily. There was no reason for her to be running around everywhere with no trace of her whereabouts to be found.

Could she be deliberately hiding from them? Had she perhaps already found out something?

Was there a mole?

Of course, Lin Mo wasn't referring to anyone close to him, but rather to someone within the Oxivis Family itself.

As the future heir of the family, Noren had already gained considerable authority within the Oxivis Family. That meant she had her own faction. If that was the case, then some important figures within the Oxivis Family might be her informants. If so, she might have already learned about her mother, Duke Elara's plans.

That was why she was hiding and refusing to meet them.

For now, this was just Lin Mo's speculation. But knowing Noren as well as he did, the chances that these guesses were fact weren't low.

Thinking this over, Lin Mo stopped feeling anxious. If she liked to hide, then let her hide a little longer. This cat-and-mouse game was pretty fun, wasn't it?

After all, she could run, but she couldn't hide forever. In the end, she would still have to come to heel.

And the longer she hid, the more ruthless he would be when he finally caught her.

For a brat like this who was just asking for punishment, he wouldn't use gentle methods like he would with a good girl like Finnie.

No, she needed a proper lesson!

Time flew by, and another three days passed. By now, it had been five full days since they had arrived at Seth City.

Over these days, the Barbarian Forest had grown increasingly calm on the surface. But this calm was no good sign—it was the brief silence before a storm.

It was clear that the Gnome Kingdom was about to officially launch its war.

Velesia had already returned to her clan to participate in the war preparations. As for Lin Mo and the others, they hadn't been idle these past few days either.

During the day, Lin Mo continued to meditate or research skill combinations and expand his Portable Space. At night, he worked under the moon and stars, burning the midnight oil with diligent, tireless effort.

Having just unlocked the ability to acquire all attributes, he needed to make up for everyone's shortcomings as quickly as possible.

For magic-oriented professions like Finnie and Flora, compensating for their lack of Strength, Agility, and Constitution would make them much less afraid of physical professions charging at their faces. They would no longer need as much protection.

Especially now that their Agility and Constitution attributes had been filled in, they could run fast and had sturdy bodies.

Aside from not having the skills of other professions, they were already starting to resemble Lin Mo from before.

Of course, Finnie was a support profession, so her combat ability was still somewhat lacking. But Flora was different—she had become a mage with incredibly fast movement speed and tank-level tankiness.

Most importantly, during these few days, they had all gradually advanced to the Transcendent Level one after another.

Although Lin Mo hadn't increased much in level since his own promotion to Transcendent, he had actually gained quite a few basic attribute points. It was just that advancing after Transcendent required more attributes.

So in reality, there was still a noticeable gap between his basic attributes and those of Ellie and the others. Coupled with the upgrade of the Dual Cultivation skill, the new Life Contract's effects were significantly improved compared to before. The final result, thanks to everyone's joint efforts, was that they all advanced to Transcendent.

On top of that, they had also learned new Epic Level skills from Lin Mo. Opponents of the same level were like speed bumps to them now—they could crush them effortlessly.

Even professionals one or two levels higher were no match. They could easily contend with and overpower professionals up to level twenty-four. Under extreme circumstances, they could even take on level twenty-five professionals. This ability to fight above their level was undeniably impressive.

Although this world had many geniuses, most were just faster at leveling up. When it came to actual combat power, while they did have an edge over others of the same level, that advantage mainly came from the quality of their skills and equipment. If you stripped those factors away, they didn't have much more advantage over other professionals of the same level.

As for fighting above their level...

Even excluding the influence of equipment, even if they had better, more powerful skills than ordinary people, they could generally only fight one to two levels above their own. That was already considered extremely impressive.

Now, with Lin Mo's help, all the girls in his group—except for Finnie, who was a support—had the ability to fight at least three levels above their own!

Among them, Ellie had undergone the most drastic change.

Compared to the others, Ellie had one special trait: she possessed Bloodline Power within her body.

So originally, she could use her bloodline's power to execute techniques similar to a Spellsword's skills. Now, with the enhancement of her Mana attribute, although it didn't directly affect the strength of her bloodline, the powerful mana accumulating within her body still provided significant boosts to her techniques.

Ellie had undoubtedly become the second strongest among the group, second only to Lily.

Even if Sherfilia, Eve, and Flora teamed up against her, Ellie could hold her ground for quite a while before being defeated.

With everyone's strength greatly improved, Lin Mo hadn't come away empty-handed either.

As the others successively learned Epic Level skills from him, his own proficiency in those Epic Level skills also increased during the exchange process—and by no small amount.

For example, the skill Phantom Sword Dance was learned by both Eve and Ellie, so it improved particularly quickly. The originally level seven skill had directly advanced to level eight, with its progress reaching (362/2000). It was not far from evolving now.

The other skills had also seen decent improvement. The growth rate was comparable to low-intensity monster farming.

Additionally, his Meditation level had increased considerably. Intermediate Meditation Technique had climbed all the way to level five. Although it hadn't reached the level where it granted basic attribute points, the act of meditation itself had provided him with two basic Mana points and one basic Spirit point.

So Meditation was something worth practicing. For mages, it was practically a core skill.

Even for Lin Mo, it served as a nice bonus during his rest periods.

Finally, there was the progress on the Portable Space. The Spatial Creation skill was still one level away from evolving. But that last level would probably take quite a while to advance.

However, the expansion of the Portable Space itself was going well. It had increased to 2000×4000×4000—another massive improvement.

At this point, the Portable Space now had a total area of sixteen square kilometers.

Enjoying Sherfilia's feeding service while summarizing the gains of the past few days, Lin Mo quickly finished a hearty breakfast.

Now, it was time to officially head to the Barbarian Forest.

By this time, a large number of powers had already arrived, and the Elven race had communicated with them...

Originally, according to the Elven race's plans, if they were alone, they would simply guard the Elven Royal Court directly, embracing the idea of "rather be a shattered vessel of jade than an intact tile of pottery" and fight to the death. But now, with so much help available, their defensive strategy naturally had to change. It evolved into setting up defense lines to block the goblins' advance.

The location of the Elven Royal Court couldn't be easily exposed. Besides, the Royal Court was too small to set up defense lines. So after discussions, they ultimately chose a path the Gnome Kingdom's army would have to take and, based on the terrain, drew up a layout for the defense lines.

The main force making up these defense lines was, naturally, humans.

The Elven race's population was extremely sparse.

Compared to the hundreds of billions of humans and goblins, the existing Elven population was pitifully small.

Even counting elves who had already entered their twilight years and those who hadn't yet grown up, the total barely exceeded ten thousand.

The number of young and middle-aged elves who could serve as the main force totaled only about seven thousand.

So, in essence, the defense lines were basically composed of a human "allied army."

At the same time, due to the sudden shift in circumstances, the Roxez Empire could no longer afford to just watch from the sidelines. Although they didn't send their main army, apart from the numerous nobles and powers within the empire, the royal family had also mobilized several medium-sized military units to participate in the joint defense.

This could be seen as a gesture of commitment. After all, the Roxez Empire wasn't entirely blameless in this matter. Once the Elven race was wiped out, the Gnome Kingdom would certainly not stop its advance. Even if only to expend their surplus population, they would continue attacking the Roxez Empire.

Even though everyone had been attracted by various news and benefits, the situation had already turned out this way. With so many people coming to help resist the goblin invasion, it would be inexcusable for the Roxez Empire to contribute nothing.

As for the Elven race, although their numbers were few and their contribution to constructing the defense lines was minimal, their powerful bloodline ensured that each individual possessed formidable strength. This gave the temporary allied army a surplus of mid-to-high-end combat power.

And this was just the current situation. More powers, including ordinary adventurers, were still on their way...

Under these circumstances, Lin Mo, the one who had set all these events in motion, finally arrived on the scene.

To avoid causing too much of a stir and attracting unnecessary trouble, Lin Mo chose to keep a low profile. He directly stowed everyone into his Portable Space and approached the defense lines alone.

He wore a black cloak and deliberately switched to ordinary equipment, letting a bit of it show, so that he looked like a completely unremarkable ordinary adventurer.

In his hand, he held a map showing the general layout of the defense lines.

The entire defense line was very long, stretching over a thousand kilometers. On one side lay a continuous mountain range, and on the other side, a massive lake. This essentially ruled out any possibility of the goblins taking a detour—at most, small elite units could infiltrate, which wouldn't affect the overall situation.

Within this thousand-kilometer-long defense line, the most important section was the part slightly left of the middle.

The reason was simple: this area had the simplest terrain, with relatively sparse trees and open ground—perfect for a large army's assault.

Once the Gnome Kingdom launched its war, this area would definitely become the main direction of attack.

It wasn't that the goblins would choose to do this; it was that they had no other choice.

Their massive population numbers certainly brought great advantages to the goblin race. But to some extent, this also limited their combat operations.

Only in such open terrain could they maximize the advantage of their numerical superiority.

Therefore, the allied army's hardest-hitting main force was stationed along this roughly one-hundred-kilometer stretch of the defense line.

This included the Roxez Empire's Second Knight Corps and Third Infantry Guard. Although they weren't the empire's top-tier troops, they had been mobilized from nearby, and the imperial capital's forces were, at the very least, elites.

In addition, many major powers had also gathered here.

For example, the Serya Empire's ducal family—the Tori Family; the Roxez Empire's ducal family—the Danlo Family; and a family Lin Mo was very familiar with—the Violet Empire's Royal Duke Family, the Oxivis Family.

Then there were nearly half of the Elven race's young and middle-aged members, totaling about three thousand elves.

Finally, there were many adventurer teams attracted by the recent news and the Association's mission. This group made up the largest proportion, but their combat power was a mixed bag. On one end were famous Gold-level adventurer teams and even renowned Heroic Realm adventurers; on the other end were grassroots adventurers who hadn't even reached the Veteran Level, with levels as low as three or four.

As for why these grassroots adventurers had come, that was mostly thanks to the Adventurers' Association's efforts.